Wendell Lewis Willkie (/ˈwɛndəlˈluːɨsˈwɪlki/;[1] February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the party, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and anti-business. Willkie, an internationalist,[2] needed the votes of the large isolationist element, so he waffled on the bitterly debated issue of America's role in World War II, losing support from both sides. His opponent Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1940 election with 55% of the popular vote and 85% of the electoral vote.

Afterward, Roosevelt found Willkie to be compatible politically with his plans and brought him aboard as an informal ambassador-at-large. Willkie criss-crossed the globe and brought home a vision of "One World" freed from imperialism and colonialism. Following his journeys, Willkie wrote One World; a bestselling account of his travels and meetings with the Allied heads of state, as well as ordinary citizens and soldiers in regions such as Russia and Iran.[3] His liberalism lost him supporters in the GOP and he dropped out of the 1944 race, then several months later died of a heart attack.

Willkie was born and raised in Elwood, Indiana, the son of Herman Willkie, a German immigrant from the Province of Saxony, whose family name originally was "Willcke",[1] and his wife Henrietta Trisch. Both of his parents were lawyers in Elwood, his mother being one of the first women admitted to the bar in Indiana. He was named Lewis Wendell Willkie, but among his friends and family he was called by his middle name, Wendell.

The following year, when the U.S. entered World War I, Willkie enlisted in the Army. An Army clerk accidentally transposed his first and middle names, and Willkie did not correct it, thereafter calling himself Wendell Lewis Willkie. He received a commission as a First Lieutenant and trained to be an artillery officer. However, he arrived in France just as the war ended. Since he was a lawyer, he was assigned to the American headquarters in Paris to assist in military trials.

In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed legislation creating the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a government agency with far-reaching influence that promised to bring flood control and cheap electricity to the impoverished Tennessee Valley. However, the TVA would compete with existing private power companies in the area, including Commonwealth & Southern. This caused Willkie to become an active critic of the TVA, as well as other New Deal agencies that directly competed with private corporations. Willkie argued that government-controlled organizations such as the TVA had unfair advantages, since they did not have to be profitable and could thus charge cheaper rates than private corporations. This idea was not new to Willkie; in 1930 he had said publicly that it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to enter the utility business.[4]

In April 1933, Willkie testified against the TVA legislation before the Military Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives. He said the TVA's supplanting of Commonwealth & Southern could threaten $400 million in investors' equity, thereby convincing the House to limit the TVA's ability to build transmission lines that competed with those of existing private companies.[5]

However, Roosevelt persuaded the Senate to remove the restrictions and the resulting law gave the TVA extremely broad powers. The TVA could borrow unlimited funds at low interest rates, and Willkie's Commonwealth & Southern was unable to compete. In 1939, Commonwealth & Southern was forced to sell its property in the Tennessee Valley to the TVA for $78.6 million. Willkie formally switched political parties that year and began making speeches opposing the New Deal. Willkie did not condemn all New Deal programs. He supported New Deal programs that dealt with problems he felt could not be solved better by private enterprise, including Social Security, the Wagner Labor Relations Act, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.[6] He maintained that since the government had unfair advantages over private businesses, it should avoid competing directly against them. On January 6, 1938 Willkie made a highly publicized appearance on the popular Town Hall nationwide radio program, where he debated the merits of the private-enterprise system with Robert H. Jackson. Jackson was Roosevelt's Solicitor General and a possible 1940 Democratic presidential candidate. Most listeners felt that Willkie won the debate, and many liberal Republicans began to view him as a possible presidential candidate.[7]

The 1940 presidential campaign was conducted against the backdrop of World War II. Although the United States was still neutral, the nation - and especially the Republican Party - was deeply divided between isolationists, who felt the nation should avoid any steps that could lead America into the war, and interventionists, who felt that America's survival depended upon helping the Allies defeat Nazi Germany. The three leading candidates for the 1940 Republican nomination were all isolationists to varying degrees: Senators Robert A. Taft of Ohio, Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, and Thomas E. Dewey, the "gangbusting" District Attorney from New York. These three men had campaigned vigorously, but only 300 of the 1,000 convention delegates were pledged to a candidate before the convention. This left an opening for a dark horse candidate to emerge.

Willkie seemed an unlikely candidate as he was a former Democrat and Wall Street industrialist who had never before run for public office. He had backing from some major media magnates: Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune, Roy W. Howard of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, and John Cowles and Gardner Cowles, publishers of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, the Des Moines Register, and Look magazine. Willkie's supporters established a national grassroots network, but his support was thin. A May 8 Gallup poll showed Dewey at 67% support among Republicans, followed by Vandenberg and Taft, with Willkie at a mere 3%.

Campaign pin

Willkie tried to appeal to the powerful isolationist wing of the Republican Party by saying: "no man has the right to use the great powers of the Presidency to lead the people, indirectly, into war." However, Willkie's greatest support came from the party's internationalist wing, which wanted the US to provide all the aid possible to the Allies (especially Britain), short of a formal declaration of war. Willkie consistently spoke of the need to aid Britain against Germany; this contrasted with his main rivals Taft, Dewey, and Vandenberg, who were isolationists.

While Taft stressed that America needed to prevent the New Deal from using the international crisis to extend socialism and dictatorship at home, the German blitzkrieg that quickly defeated France shook public opinion. Sympathy for the embattled British was mounting. In mid-June, little over one week before the convention opened, Gallup reported that Willkie had surged to second place with 17%, and that Dewey was slipping. Willkie stumped the country, seeking the support of liberal and East Coast Republicans worried by German victories.

As the convention opened in Philadelphia on June 24, Gallup reported that in a poll taken a few days earlier, Willkie had moved up to 29%, Dewey had slipped 5% to 47%, and Taft, Vandenberg, and former President Hoover trailed at 8%, 8%, and 6% respectively. With the surrender of France to Germany on June 22, 1940, and the belief that Britain was under imminent threat of a Nazi invasion, the convention opened in an atmosphere of great excitement and national stress; this is believed to have boosted Willkie's chances even further.[8]

Hundreds of thousands of telegrams urging support for Willkie poured in, many from "Willkie Clubs" that had sprung up across the country. Millions more citizens signed petitions circulating throughout the country. At the convention, Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota, the keynote speaker, announced for Willkie and became his official floor manager. Hundreds of vocal Willkie supporters packed the upper galleries of the convention hall. Willkie's amateur status and fresh face appealed to delegates as well as voters. The delegates were selected not by primaries but by party organizations in each state, and as political veterans, they had a keen sense of how fast public opinion was changing. This change was also reflected in a later poll taken by Gallup but not reported till after the convention: Willkie had pulled ahead among Republican voters by 44% to only 29% for the collapsing Dewey.

Dewey led the first ballot, but was far short of a majority; Taft was second, and Willkie was a surprisingly strong third. On the second and third ballots Dewey's support dwindled, as his delegates went to either Taft or Willkie, with most favoring Willkie. Meanwhile, Willkie's supporters in the galleries chanted "We Want Willkie" over and over. On the fourth ballot Willkie surged into first place, with Taft close behind; other candidates began to drop out in favor of the two frontrunners. As the delegates belonging to "favorite son" candidates were released by their original candidates, Willkie steadily gained more of them than Taft. Finally, on the sixth ballot, Willkie received a majority of the ballots cast and won the nomination. His victory is still considered by most political historians to be one of the most dramatic moments in the history of American presidential conventions.

Wendell Willkie receives official notification of the Republican presidential nomination at a ceremony in Elwood, Indiana, August 17, 1940.[9]

Willkie left the selection of the candidate for Vice President to convention chairman Joseph W. Martin Jr., who suggested Senate Minority LeaderCharles L. McNary of Oregon. Despite the fact that McNary had spearheaded a "Stop Willkie" campaign late in the balloting, Willkie selected McNary, who was nominated by acclamation. Willkie asked Martin to take on the task of Republican National Committee chairman, a post that Martin held simultaneously with his House leadership role from 1940–1942. Martin found the party without adequate finances after Willkie's defeat and unable to raise needed funds for the 1942 congressional elections.

Convention chairman Joe Martin went to Elwood, Indiana, to inform Willkie officially of the nomination, as was then the custom. In giving his acceptance speech, Willkie used a full text of the speech which was typewritten with double spacing in ordinary pica type, whereas experienced politicians used triple space in large letters as notes for giving speeches. Martin writes in his memoirs, "As I feared, Willkie had difficulty reading the speech from the small type. His performance was flat. Then the crowning blunder came at the end of the speech when the Willkie clubs, without my knowledge, piped in an appeal for funds to the tremendous radio audience. If ever such an appeal was out of place, it was in a high-minded notification ceremony...[10]

Willkie centered his presidential campaign on three major themes: the alleged inefficiency and corruption of Roosevelt's New Deal programs; Roosevelt's attempt to win an unprecedented third term as President; and the government's alleged lack of military preparedness. Willkie claimed that he would keep most of FDR's New Deal welfare and regulatory programs, but that he would make them more efficient and effective, and that he would work more closely with business leaders to end the Great Depression. Roosevelt's attempt to break the "two-term" tradition established by George Washington was also a focus of Willkie's criticism; the Republican candidate accused Roosevelt of thinking himself indispensable and wanting to institute "one-man rule." He said FDR had "weakened rather than strengthened democracy throughout the world."[11] FDR's attempt to break the "two-term" tradition had also earned criticism from some conservative Democrats (such as John Nance Garner), and Willkie hoped to win their support.

Willkie relied heavily on radio to broadcast his message to the people. Joe Martin writes that he could "hardly find enough money to buy him all the time he wanted on the networks."[10]

However, these first two themes did not catch the public's attention, and as Willkie's support sagged, he turned to criticism of Roosevelt's lack of preparedness in military matters. However, during the campaign, Roosevelt preempted the military issue by expanding military contracts and instituting a military draft. Although Willkie had initially supported the draft, he waffled and reversed his stance when polls showed that opposition to entering another world war was a popular issue for the Republicans. Willkie then began to claim that Roosevelt was secretly planning to take the U.S. into the European war against Germany. With this claim, his campaign attracted isolationists and managed to regain some of its momentum.[12]

Late in the campaign, the Republicans obtained letters written by Henry A. Wallace, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, to controversial Russian mystic Nicholas Roerich, who had invented an eclectic religion based on Tibetan Buddhism. Wallace addressed Roerich as "Dear Guru", and signed his own name as "G" for Galahad — a name Roerich assigned Wallace in his religion — and showed his complete adherence to Roerich's doctrines. Democratic leaders feared that if the letters were published, Wallace's exotic religious beliefs would alienate many voters. Republicans did plan to publish the Wallace letters, but the Democrats threatened to release information about Willkie's rumored extramarital affair with writer Irita Van Doren, resulting in a stalemate.[13]

Eleanor Roosevelt's biographer and very close personal friend Joseph Lash wrote "The anti-Roosevelt underground campaign in 1940 was venomous, and (Democratic National Chairman) Flynn accused the Republicans of conducting the 'most vicious, most shameful campaign since the time of Lincoln.' Much of the abuse centered on Eleanor and the Roosevelt family."[14] However, the abuse went both ways, as historian William Manchester noted: "above all, he [Willkie] should never have been subjected to the accusation of Henry Wallace, FDR's new vice-presidential candidate, that Willkie was the Nazis' choice."[15]

Willkie received 22.3 million votes (more than any previous Republican candidate), but was outpolled by Roosevelt with 27.3 million. Roosevelt won the electoral vote to 449 to 82. Willkie carried ten states: Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. However, Willkie did draw 5.8 million votes more than Alf Landon, the 1936 Republican candidate, and he ran strong in the rural Midwest, taking 57% of the farm vote. Roosevelt, meanwhile, carried every city in the nation with a population of more than 400,000, except for Cincinnati. Willkie was the only major-party nominee for President who never held major elected or appointive office or high military rank.

After the election, Willkie became a fervent internationalist and an unlikely ally of Roosevelt. To the chagrin of many Republicans, Willkie spoke out for controversial Roosevelt initiatives such as Lend-Lease, and campaigned against isolationism. In 1941, Willkie joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to found Freedom House. On July 23, 1941, he urged unlimited aid to Britain. As Roosevelt's personal representative, he traveled to Britain and the Middle East in late 1941, and to the Soviet Union and China in 1942.

In 1943, Willkie published One World, a book for popular audiences in which he recounted his world travels on the Gulliver and urged that America accept some form of "world government" after the war. One World was a best-seller that marked his transformation into a major spokesman for internationalism and made him a controversial figure within the Roosevelt administration and among his Republican colleagues, but it helped move public opinion from isolationism to internationalism. Its publication also extended Willkie's contacts with the world of literary critics and film executives.[16]

In April 1941, Willkie joined the law firm of Miller, Boston, and Owen in New York City, and shortly thereafter the firm changed its name to Willkie, Owen, Otis, Farr, and Gallagher. It is now Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

Willkie spoke often of the need to extend equal rights and privileges to African Americans and addressed a convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1942, one of the most prominent politicians to do so up to that time. When a violent race riot broke out in Detroit on June 20, 1943, Willkie went on national radio to criticize Republicans and Democrats for ignoring "the Negro question." He said, "The desire to deprive some of our citizens of their rights — economic, civic or political — has the same basic motivation as actuates the Fascist mind when it seeks to dominate whole peoples and nations. It is essential that we eliminate it at home as well as abroad." During this time, Willkie also worked with Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, to try to convince Hollywood to change its portrayal of blacks in the movies.

In the 1944 presidential election, Willkie again sought the Republican nomination, choosing his wife's hometown, Rushville, Indiana, as his campaign headquarters. However, his progressive and internationalist views gained little support because of the rightward shift of the party and Republican rank-and-file resentment over Willkie's close collaboration with Roosevelt.

Having won a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary, Willkie seemed at first a strong candidate in Wisconsin as well. However, a January 1944 poll in Wisconsin suddenly showed Dewey, the favorite of party regulars, leading Willkie by a two-to-one margin. The New York Times hailed the Willkie candidacy: "Win, lose or draw next Tuesday, Willkie will have made a campaign that reflects the sincerity of his convictions and the high quality of his leadership."[17]

Willkie finished a distant fourth in Wisconsin, behind Dewey, General Douglas MacArthur, and Harold Stassen. Willkie received only 4.6 percent of the primary ballots.[18] Following this decisive loss, Willkie withdrew from the race.

It is obvious now that I cannot be nominated. I therefore am asking my friends to desist from any activity toward that end and not to present my name at the convention. I earnestly hope that the Republican convention will nominate a candidate and write a platform that really represents the views which I have advocated and which I believe are shared by millions of Americans. I shall continue to work for these principles and policies for which I have fought during the last five years.[19]

By the time of his sudden death in October 1944, Wilkie had not endorsed either Dewey or Roosevelt, but Wilkie had approached Roosevelt with the possibility of forming a new party with support from liberals in both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.[20] Though Wilkie began working with the Liberal Party of New York to launch a new national party, Wilkie's death ended that effort.

In October 1944, Willkie was on a Pennsylvania Railroad train traveling from Indianapolis to New York City when he was stricken with a major heart attack somewhere in Ohio. Other passengers implored him to get off the train at Pittsburgh and go to a hospital there to seek treatment. Willkie, who had a history of cardiovascular issues prior to this sudden attack, chose to proceed on to his destination as he preferred to be treated by his own physician in New York and decided to wait until he got there to seek treatment for his worsening condition. He arrived safely at Pennsylvania Station in New York on October 6, 1944, but suffered a coronary thrombosis two days later and died in Lenox Hill Hospital, aged 52.[21] Willkie's running mate, Senator McNary, died in February 1944 at the age of 69 from terminal brain cancer, marking the first time a major party's complete ticket died during the presidential term in which they would have served if elected.

Though he had been in ill health for a month prior to his passing, Willkie appeared a picture of robust health and was the dominant figure among internationalists within the Republican Party. At the time of his death, both Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey had been hoping for Willkie's support, which may have been worth several million votes from the undecided ranks.[22]

In her My Day column for October 12, 1944, Eleanor Roosevelt eulogized Willkie as a "man of courage... [whose] outspoken opinions on race relations were among his great contributions to the thinking of the world. ... Americans tend to forget the names of the men who lost their bid for the presidency. Willkie proved the exception to this rule."

Wendell Willkie is interred at East Hill Cemetery in Rushville, Indiana. In his honor, the Bar of the Summit County Courthouse erected a brass bas relief which is prominently displayed in its main hall.

Willkie's name was prominently mentioned by keynote speaker and Democratic Senator Zell Miller at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Miller praised Willkie as a politician who embodied a non-partisan spirit of co-operation during wartime and praised his support of President Roosevelt's creation of a military draft. Miller spoke of Willkie saying,

"Shortly before Willkie died, he told a friend, that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between 'here lies a president' or 'here lies one who contributed to saving freedom,' he would prefer the latter."[23]

Miller compared John Kerry negatively and blasted the senator for being critical of President George W. Bush's foreign policy by claiming Willkie refused to criticize FDR on foreign policy during a time of war.

The experimental biography, One Life, by the contemporary American poet Muriel Rukeyser, explores Willkie's career as a public figure and his relations with F.D.R, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek as well as anonymous members of the working class and poor of the First World War and the Great Depression. Rukeyser calls this biography both a "story and a song" and sees Willkie as a significant contributor to the American imagination.[24]

In the Bugs Bunnyanimated cartoonFalling Hare, Bugs is pestered by a gremlin while trying to fly a World War II bomber. When he realizes what the gremlin is, he timidly asks, "Could that have been a [whispering] gremlin?" In a German accent, the gremlin replies, shouting in Bugs's ear, "It ain't Vendell Villkie!" At the 1940 Republican National Convention, the head of one Midwest state delegation announced "two votes for Villkie" in a Scandinavian accent. Broadcast on national radio as it had been, "It ain't Vendell Vilkie" was briefly in vogue as a standard American rejoinder.[25]

The Liberty shipSS Wendell L. Willkie was laid down November 8, 1944, just one month after Willkie's death; it was commissioned December 9, 1944, and served with the United States Maritime Commission until it was scrapped in 1970.